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Desperate Alliance
|fgcolor= |name=Desperate Alliance |prev=Backwater Station |conc= |next=The Jacobs Installation |image=DesperateAlliance SC1 Map1.jpg |imgsize=350px |conflict=Great War |date=December 17, 2499 |place=Mar Sara City, Mar Sara |result=Mar Sara colonists join Sons of Korhal |side1= Mar Sara Colonial Militia Sons of Korhal |side2= Zerg Swarm |side3= |side4= |commanders1= Mar Sara magistrate |commanders2= Zasz |commanders3= |commanders4= |forces1= Mar Sara Colonial Militia Elite Guard |forces2= Garm Brood |forces3= |forces4= |casual1= |casual2= |casual3= |casual4= |client= |reqmissnum= |altmission= |goal=* Survive for 30 minutes. |optgoal= |heroes= |reward= |newchar=Arcturus Mengsk |newunit=Vulture |newtech=ComSat station, Factory, Machine shop, Missile turret }} Desperate Alliance is the third terran mission of Episode I of StarCraft. History Background After the destruction of an infested command center near Backwater Station, Marshal Jim Raynor was arrested. Edmund Duke ignored the magistrate's protests of the Confederacy's handling of the zerg invasion, and the magistrate's adjutant reported that the Confederacy was avoiding confrontation with the zerg, arresting all militia that were aggressive against them. As a result of the Confederacy's unwillingness to protect the planet, the invasion continued to spread. A scant two weeks after the first zerg were found on the planet, sixteen outland colonies reported sighting the zerg, and three colonies were overrun. Fearing for the safety of the colonists, the magistrate reached out to seek aid from outside forces.Adjutant: "The Confederates have arrested all standing militia forces and continue to avoid action against the Zerg. Three stations have fallen to the Zerg already. We've been unable to locate any source of military relief except... the extremist faction known as The Sons of Korhal. Their liaison is holding on line." StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Level/area: Desperate Alliance (in English). 1998. The Sons of Korhal, a revolutionary group, agreed to evacuate the colonists if they could survive until their dropships arrived. However, the leader of the Sons of Korhal, Arcturus Mengsk, warned that the act would likely result in the magistrate being branded an outlaw of the Confederacy.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: Desperate Alliance (in English). 1998. Holding Out The colonists formed their defense on the outskirts of Mar Sara City where the primary zerg hive clusters had been erected. The zerg attack lasted half an hour of continuous assault, but the colonists were able to fend them off until the dropships from the Sons of Korhal arrived. With the colonists secured, the magistrate's tenure as colonial magistrate was suspended as the Confederacy investigated his affiliation with the Sons of Korhal. The magistrate defected to become a commander in the Sons of Korhal militia.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: The Jacobs Installation (in English). 1998. The Mar Sara colonists also defected, and the Mar Sara Militia would be pressed into the Sons of Korhal, forming the core of Raynor's Rangers.Grubb, Jeff (February 27, 2001). StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0671-04148-9. Walkthrough The player's starting base has two choke points, each defended by a bunker. The player should begin by filling the bunkers with the stray marines around their base and building up their SCVs. As the mission continues, the zerg will send larger and larger forces at either of the two choke points. The player should eventually reinforce these choke points with a second bunker at each, and then a third. Firebats should be trained in fewer numbers than marines; a 3:1 ratio of marines to firebats for each bunker is a good balance. An SCV near each choke point to repair damaged bunkers is advised. Stimpacks are not necessary to research, since marines in bunkers cannot stim. The new unit for the mission, the vulture, is very effective once the player researches their spider mines. Each vulture comes built with three mines, and the mines do heavy splash damage, crippling the zerg on arrival. The player should mine the bridges and streets leading to their bunkers to soften up the zerg attacks before they reach the bunkers. A second factory is advised if the player does this, as vulture cannot replenish their mines; the player must build new vultures to re-establish the mine fields. The player also encounters their first flying unit in this mission, the mutalisk. They come in low numbers and can usually be destroyed by the missile turrets already built around the base. Occasionally a mutalisk will attack over the player's mineral line, out of the range of turrets. The player can build turrets closer to the mineral lines, though this will inhibit the SCVs mining. A simpler solution is a small force of marines stationed on the roof overlooking the minerals to fend off the mutalisks. The mission is run when the timer runs out and the player's base still stands. With approximately two minutes left, the zerg will launch their largest attack, and the player should commit all their forces to holding off this final effort. Though defending is easier, if the player wishes they can go on the offensive against the zerg. Destroying the zerg hatcheries will considerably slow down unit production, and if the player destroys all the hatcheries the zerg will be crippled. Any attacks that come after this point will be much weaker, if the zerg move out at all. Notes *Unused triggers and locations on the map were used in a secondary objective, where the adjutant suggested breaking through the zerg defenses to reach Mengsk's transport. This gave the optional objective of destroying the zerg hatchery in addition to lasting the thirty minutes. When the hatchery was destroyed, the Sons of Korhal dropships would spawn in the upper-right corner of the map, and the mission would end in victory. This victory condition was available to the player in the StarCraft 64 version of the mission. *In StarCraft 64, the quotes at the start of the mission from the marine and vulture are replaced with statements from the adjutant. *The mission Zero Hour in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is based on this mission. References Category:StarCraft Episode I missions Category:StarCraft Terran missions